Refrigerator

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator includes: a cabinet which comprises at least one storage compartment formed with an opening at one side thereof; and a door unit which opens and closes the opening, the door unit comprising: a first door which is rotatably attached to the cabinet and opens and closes a partial area of the opening, a second door which is rotatably attached to the first door and opens and closes the remaining area of the opening, and a cool air blocking member which is disposed across a planar surface of one of the first door and the second door and a planar surface of the other of the first door and the second door and prevents cool air from leaking from a gap between the first door and the second door while the door unit is closed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No.10-2007-0028272, filed on Mar. 22, 2007 in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to arefrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator which includes adoor unit to open and close a storage compartment.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, a refrigerator is an apparatus to keep food stored in astorage compartment fresh for an extended period of time using cool airexchanged by an evaporator in a freezing cycle.

Korean Patent No. 10-0398643 discloses a kim-chi refrigerator whichincludes a cabinet forming a storage compartment which stores food andhas an upward opening, and a door unit which opens and closes the upwardopening of the storage compartment. Here, the door unit includes a firstdoor and a second door which partially and separately close the upwardopening of the storage compartment.

In the conventional refrigerator, however, cool air may leak out of thestorage compartment through a gap between the first door and the seconddoor while the door unit closes the storage compartment, therebydecreasing cooling efficiency of the refrigerator.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide arefrigerator which prevents cool air from flowing out of a storagecompartment when a door unit closes an opening of the storagecompartment.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention can beachieved by providing a refrigerator including: a cabinet which includesat least one storage compartment formed with an opening at one sidethereof; and a door unit which opens and closes the opening, the doorunit including: a first door which is rotatably attached to the cabinetand opens and closes a partial area of the opening, a second door whichis rotatably attached to the first door and opens and closes theremaining area of the opening, and a cool air blocking member which isdisposed across a planar surface of one of the first door and the seconddoor and a planar surface of the other of the first door and the seconddoor and prevents cool air from leaking from a gap between the firstdoor and the second door while the door unit is closed.

According to an aspect of the invention, the refrigerator furtherincludes: a first hinge which attaches the first door to the cabinet toallow the first door to be rotatable outward with respect to thecabinet; and a second hinge which attaches the second door to the firstdoor to allow the second door to be rotatable outward with respect tothe first door.

According to an aspect of the invention, the refrigerator furtherincludes: a first gasket which is located along an edge of an insideplanar surface of the first door; and a second gasket which is locatedalong an edge of an inside planar surface of the second door.

According to an aspect of the invention, the cool air blocking memberhas a length corresponding to the opening along a lengthwise directionof the second hinge and is attached to the Inside planar surface of oneof the first door and the second door.

According to an aspect of the invention, the refrigerator furtherincludes an extension part which extends from opposite sides of one ofthe first gasket and the second gasket in a transverse direction of thelengthwise direction of the second hinge and prevents leakage of coolair between the first gasket and the second gasket.

According to an aspect of the invention, the refrigerator furtherincludes a heating part disposed between the first door and the seconddoor.

According to an aspect of the Invention, the heating part includes: aheater formed on at least one of surfaces of the first door and thesecond door, the surfaces facing each other; and a heater cover to coverthe heater.

According to an aspect of the invention, the second hinge includes: ahinge shaft located in one of the first door and the second door; ahinge shaft accommodating part located on the other of the first doorand the second door and accommodating the hinge shaft; and a frictionmember which is disposed between the hinge shaft and the hinge shaftaccommodating part, has a shape of a cylinder having a cutting part cutalong a lengthwise direction of the hinge shaft, and provides frictionalresistance to rotation of the hinge shaft.

According to an aspect of the invention, the friction member haselasticity in a direction of a radius thereof.

According to an aspect of the invention, the refrigerator furtherincludes a stopper which prevents the friction member from being rotatedby rotation of the hinge shaft.

According to an aspect of the invention, the stopper includes: aprotrusion formed in one of the friction member and the hinge shaftaccommodating part; and a protrusion accommodating part formed in theother of the friction member and the hinge shaft accommodating part andaccommodating the protrusion.

According to an aspect of the invention, the refrigerator furtherincludes a shock-absorbing member disposed between the first door andthe second door to reduce impact of the second door while the seconddoor is open.

According to an aspect of the invention, the refrigerator furtherincludes: a first opening and closing sensor which senses whether thefirst door is open or closed; and a second opening and closing sensorwhich senses whether the second door is open or closed.

According to an aspect of the invention, the first opening and closingsensor includes: a first magnet disposed in one of the cabinet and thefirst door; and a first magnetic sensor disposed in the other of thecabinet and the first door to detect a magnetic field generated by thefirst magnet.

According to an aspect of the invention, the second opening and closingsensor includes: a second magnet disposed in one of the first door andthe second door or one of the second door and the cool air blockingmember; and a second magnetic sensor disposed in the other of the firstdoor and the second door or one of the second door and the cool airblocking member to detect the magnetic field generated by the secondmagnet.

According to an aspect of the invention, the refrigerator furtherincludes: a cooling apparatus which generates cool air and provides thecool air to the storage compartment; and a controller which controlsoperation of the cooling apparatus on the basis of information sensed bythe first opening and closing sensor and the second opening and closingsensor.

According to an aspect of the invention, the refrigerator furtherincludes a first hinge which attaches the first door to the cabinet toallow the first door to be rotatable outward with respect to thecabinet; and a second hinge which attaches the second door to the firstdoor to allow the second door to be rotatable inward with respect to thefirst door.

According to an aspect of the invention, the cool air blocking member isattached to an outside planar surface of one of the first door and thesecond door.

Additional aspects and/or advantages will be set forth in part in thedescription which follows and, in part, will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects of the present invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view to schematically illustrate a configurationof a refrigerator according to a first exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an operating state of a second door of therefrigerator according to the first exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a mounting state of a first gasket, a second gasketand a cool air blocking member of the refrigerator according to thefirst exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view to illustrate attaching a secondhinge of the refrigerator according to the first exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view to illustrate attaching a heatingpart of the refrigerator according to the first exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates an operating state of a first opening and closingsensor according to opening and closing of a first door of therefrigerator in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate an operating state of a second opening andclosing sensor according to opening and closing of a second door of therefrigerator according to the first exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the refrigerator according to the firstexemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view to schematically illustrate a configurationof a refrigerator according to a second exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elementsthroughout. The exemplary embodiments are described below to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

It is noted that a top open/close type of kim-chi refrigerator will bementioned as an example to explain exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention, but the present invention may also be employed for a frontopen/close type of the refrigerator.

A refrigerator 1 according to a first exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8.

Referring to FIG. 1, the refrigerator 1 according to the first exemplaryembodiment of the present invention includes a cabinet 10 which forms anexternal shape and has at least one storage compartment 13 with anopening 11 at one side and a door unit 20 to open and close the opening11 of the storage compartment 13. In the present exemplary embodiment,the opening 11 of the storage compartment 13 is open upward.

The cabinet 10 includes at least one storage compartment 13. Further,the cabinet 10 accommodates a cooling apparatus 15 (see FIG. 8) such asa compressor (not shown), a condenser (not shown), an evaporator (notshown), etc. A configuration and an operation of the cooling apparatus15 are known, and thus descriptions thereof will not be mentioned in thepresent exemplary embodiment.

The door unit 20 includes a first door 21 a rotatably attached to thecabinet 10 to open and close one portion of the opening 11, a seconddoor 21 b rotatably attached to the first door 21 a to open and closethe other portion of the opening 11, and a cool air blocking member 30disposed across a planar surface of one of the first door 21 a and thesecond door 21 b, and a planar surface of the other of the first door 21a and the second door 21 b and prevents cool air from leaking from a gapbetween the first door 21 a and the second door 21 b when the door unit20 is in a closed state.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the first door 21 a opens andcloses a rear area of the opening 11, and the second door 21 b opens andcloses a front area thereof. The first door 21 a and the second door 21b have a plate shape, and Include holding parts 23 a and 23 b,respectively. Meanwhile, a first hinge 25 a is located between the firstdoor 21 a and the cabinet 10 to attach the first door 21 a to thecabinet 10 and to be rotatable outward, and a second hinge 25 b islocated between the first door 21 a and the second door 21 b to attachthe second door 21 b to the first door 21 a and to be rotatable outward.Thus, the second door 21 b may be rotated to open the front area of theopening 11 for a small size storage thing to be put in or taken out,thereby reducing leakage of cool air that escapes when putting in ortaking out the storage item.

The first hinge 25 a supports the first door 21 a and is pivotallyrotatable on the cabinet 10. The first hinge 25 a is a hinge used for atop open/close type refrigerator or kim-chi refrigerator which isgenerally known, and thus descriptions thereof will not be explained inthe present exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4, the second hinge 25 b is located to pivotallyrotate the second door 21 b outward on the first door 21 a. Here, thesecond hinge 25 b may be disposed on an upper part of the first door 21a and the second door 21 b. The second hinge 25 b may be provided as anordinary hinge. In the present exemplary embodiment, however, the secondhinge 25 b includes a friction member 28 to provide frictionalresistance to rotation of the second door 21 b.

The second hinge 25 b Includes a hinge shaft 26 located on one of thefirst door 21 a and the second door 21 b, a hinge shaft accommodatingpart 27 located on the other of the first door 21 a and the second door21 b and accommodating the hinge shaft 26, and the friction member 28which provides frictional resistance to rotation of the hinge shaft 26.In the present exemplary embodiment, the hinge shaft 26 is attached tothe second door 21 b, and the hinge shaft accommodating part 27 isattached to the first door 21 a.

The friction member 28 is disposed between the hinge shaft 26 and thehinge shaft accommodating part 27 and has a shape of a cylinder having acutting part 28 a cut along a lengthwise direction of the hinge shaft26. The friction member 28 may be elastic in a direction of its radius.Thus, the second hinge 25 b decreases a speed where the second door 21 bis dropped by its weight, thereby preventing noise and impact arisingfrom rotation of the second door 21 b. Meanwhile, the second hinge 25 bfurther includes a stopper 29 to prevent the friction member 28 frombeing rotated by the rotation of the hinge shaft 26.

As shown in the enlargement illustrated in FIG. 4, the stopper 29includes a protrusion 29 a formed on an inside surface of the hingeshaft accommodating part 27 and a protrusion accommodating part 29 bformed on the friction member 28 and accommodating the protrusion 29 a.Here, the protrusion 29 a projects from the inside surface of the hingeshaft accommodating part 27 along the lengthwise direction of the hingeshaft 26, and the protrusion accommodating part 29 b projects from thecutting part 28 a in the direction of the radius. Alternatively, theprotrusion 29 a may be formed on the friction member 28, and theprotrusion accommodating part 29 b may be formed on the hingeaccommodating part 27.

As described above, the first door 21 a and the second door 21 b arearranged to open and close the opening 11 partially and separately,thereby improving spatial efficiency of the refrigerator 1 andpreventing cool air from leaking excessively.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the cool air blocking member 30 is disposedacross the planar surfaces of the first door 21 a and the second door 21b to prevent cool air from leaking between the first door 21 a and thesecond door 21 b in the closed state.

The cool air blocking member 30 includes a blocking part 31 of a plateshape, and an attachment part 33 to support the blocking part 31 withrespect to the second door 21 b. The blocking part 31 is utilized as aplate to block a gap between the first door 21 a and the second door 21b. The attachment part 33 extends from the blocking part 31 in a surfacedirection of the blocking part 31. In the present exemplary embodiment,the attachment part 33 is formed to extend from opposite sides of theblocking part 31 and includes a screw attachment hole 35 into which ascrew is inserted. Here, a screw attachment hole (not shown) is formedin an inside planar surface of the second door 21 b at a positioncorresponding to the screw attachment hole 35. The cool air blockingmember 30 has a length corresponding to a width of the opening 11 alongthe lengthwise direction of the hinge shaft 26 of the second hinge 25 b.

As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the refrigerator 1 according to thefirst exemplary embodiment may further include a first gasket 40 alocated along an edge of an inside planar surface of the first door 21a, and a second gasket 40 b located along an edge of the inside planarsurface of the second door 21 b. Here, the cool air blocking member 30is mounted on the second door 21 b across the second gasket 40 b, butmay be mounted on the first door 21 a. The first gasket 40 a and thesecond gasket 40 b are formed on the edge of the opening 11 to seal agap between the first door 21 a and the cabinet 10 and a gap between thesecond door 21 b and the cabinet 10. Accordingly, cool air may not leakthrough the gap between the first door 21 a and the cabinet 10 and thegap between the second door 21 b and the cabinet 10.

Meanwhile, an extension part 45 is provided to extend from one of thefirst gasket 40 a and the second gasket 40 b in a transverse directionof a lengthwise direction of the second hinge 25 b so as to preventleakage of cool air between the first gasket 40 a and the second gasket40 b. The extension part 45 is arranged so that the cool air blockingmember 30 extends in a lengthwise direction in the closed state of thesecond door 21 b. In detail, the cool air blocking member 30 has alength corresponding to the opening 11, and thus it does not seal theedge of the opening 11. Accordingly, the extension part 45 is arrangedto improve the seal of the storage compartment. In the present exemplaryembodiment, the extension part 45 extends from the first gasket 40 a, asshown in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 5, the refrigerator 1 according to the first exemplaryembodiment may further include a heating part 50 disposed between thefirst door 21 a and the second door 21 b. The heating part 50 includes aheater 51 formed on at least one of surfaces of the first door 21 a andthe second door 21 b, the surfaces facing each other, and a heater cover53 to cover the heater 51. In the present exemplary embodiment, theheater 51 is provided as a film heater having a plate shape and disposedon the front surface of the first door 21 a. The heating part 50 isarranged to prevent dew from being formed in a boundary area of thefirst door 21 a and the second door 21 b.

The refrigerator 1 according to the first exemplary embodiment mayfurther include a shock-absorbing member 60 disposed between the firstdoor 21 a and the second door 21 b to reduce the shock of the seconddoor 21 b while the second door 21 b is opened. The shock-absorbingmember 60 is an elastic material such as rubber. In the presentexemplary embodiment, the shock-absorbing member 60 is located on anoutside surface of the first door 21 a, as shown in FIG. 1.Alternatively, the shock-absorbing member 60 may be located on anoutside surface of the second door 21 b.

Referring to FIGS. 6 to 8, the refrigerator 1 according to the firstexemplary embodiment may further include a first opening and closingsensor 70 a to sense whether the first door 21 a is open or closed, anda second opening and closing sensor 70 b to sense whether the seconddoor 21 b is open or closed.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the first opening and closing sensor 70 aincludes a first magnet 71 a disposed in one of the cabinet 10 and thefirst door 21 a, and a first magnetic sensor 73 a disposed in the otherof the cabinet 10 and the first door 21 b to detect a magnetic fieldgenerated by the first magnet 71 a.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the first magnet 71 a is mounted ina rear end part of the first door 21 a, and the first magnetic sensor 73a is mounted in an upper rear end part of the cabinet 10. The firstmagnet 71 a and the first magnetic sensor 73 a are located close to eachother in the closed state of the first door 21 a. Accordingly, acontroller 80 recognizes that the first door 21 a is closed. Meanwhile,when the first door 21 a is rotated, the first magnet 71 a and the firstmagnetic sensor 73 are located apart from each other. Accordingly, thecontroller 80 recognizes that the first door 21 a is open.

Whereas it was explained that the first magnet 71 a and the firstmagnetic sensor 73 a are located close to each other in the closed stateof the first door 21 a, the first magnet 71 a and the first magneticsensor 73 a may be located close to each other in the opening state ofthe first door 21 a.

The second opening and closing sensor 70 b includes a second magnet 71 bmounted in one of the first door 21 a and the second door 21 b or one ofthe first door 21 a and the cool air blocking member 30. Also, thesecond opening closing sensor 70 b includes a second magnetic sensor 73b mounted in the other of the first door 21 a and the second door 21 aor one of the first door 21 a and the cool air blocking member 30 todetect magnetic field generated by the second magnet 71 b.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the second magnet 71 b is mountedin the cool air blocking member 30, and the second magnetic sensor 73 bis mounted in a front end part of the first door 21 a. Here, the secondmagnet 71 b may be mounted in a rear end part of the second door 21 b.As illustrated in FIG. 7A, the second magnet 71 b and the secondmagnetic sensor 73 b are located close to each other in the closed stateof the second door 21 b. Accordingly, the controller 80 recognizes thatthe second door 21 b is closed. Meanwhile, as illustrated in FIG. 7B,when the second door 21 b is rotated, the second magnet 71 b and thesecond magnetic sensor 73 b are located apart from each other.Accordingly, the controller 80 recognizes that the second door 21 b isopen.

Whereas it was explained that the second magnet 71 b and the secondmagnetic sensor 73 b are located close to one another in the closedstate of the second door 21 b, the second magnet 71 b and the secondmagnetic sensor 73 b may be located close to each other in the openingstate of the second door 21 b.

The controller 80 of the refrigerator 1 according to the first exemplaryembodiment controls operation of a cooling apparatus 15 on the basis ofinformation sensed by the first and second opening and closing sensors70 a and 70 b. In detail, the controller 80 accumulatively calculateshow long and how many times the first door 21 a and the second door 21 bare open to drive the cooling apparatus 15.

Hereinafter, a refrigerator 101 according to a second exemplaryembodiment of the present invention will be described with reference toFIG. 9. It is noted that like reference numerals refer to like elementsin the first and second exemplary embodiments and descriptions of thelike elements will not be repeated.

The refrigerator 101 according to the second exemplary embodimentincludes a first hinge 25 a to attach a first door 21 a to a cabinet 10to allow the first door 21 a to be rotatable outward, and a second hinge125 to attach a second door 21 b to the first door 21 a to allow thesecond door 21 b to be rotatable inward. The first hinge 25 a has thesame configuration as the configuration in the first exemplaryembodiment, which will not repeatedly explained.

The second hinge 125 attaches the first door 21 a to the second door 21b to foldably rotate. In detail, the second hinge 125 allows innerplanar surfaces of the first door 21 a and the second door 21 b to beclose or apart from each other to open or close an opening 11. Thesecond hinge 125 includes a hinge shaft 126 and a hinge shaftaccommodating part 127. Here, the second hinge 125 may be located in alower part of the first and second doors 21 a and 21 b.

Meanwhile, in the present exemplary embodiment, a guide protrusion 140is formed on the second door 21 b projecting from a lateral sidethereof, and a guide rail 145 is located in the cabinet 10 to guide theguide protrusion 140 in a forward or backward direction. Accordingly, auser presses the first door 21 a and the second door 21 b in the forwardor backward direction to close or open the doors 21 a and 21 b.

In the present exemplary embodiment, a cool air blocking member 130 islocated on an outside planar surface of the second door 21 b, but may belocated in the first door 21 a. In this case, the cool air blockingmember 130 has a length corresponding to a width of the first door 21 aand the second door 21 b along a lengthwise direction of the hinge shaft126. Thus, cool air may not leak between the first door 21 a and thesecond door 21 b.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the first door 21 a and the seconddoor 21 b move in the forward and backward directions to be folded orapart from each other, thereby closing and opening the opening 11 of thecabinet 10. Alternatively, the first door 21 a and the second door 21 bmay move in right and left directions to be folded or apart from eachother to close and open the opening 11.

Hereinafter, an operation process of the refrigerator 1 according to thefirst exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be explained.

If the first door 21 a and the second door 21 b are both closed, coolair does not leak between the first door 21 a and the second door 21 bdue to blocking by the cool air blocking member 30. Further, the firstgasket 40 a and the second gasket 40 b prevent cool air from leakingbetween the first door 21 a and the cabinet 10 and between the seconddoor 21 b and the cabinet 10. Here, the heating part 50 is provided toheat a boundary area between the first door 21 a and the second door 21b, thereby preventing dew from being formed.

Referring to FIG. 2, the user pivotally rotates the second door 21 boutward. The second door 21 b is slowly rotated by the friction member28 of the second hinge 25 b and the dropping speed of the second door 21b is decreased due to its weight, thereby reducing operation noise andpreventing an accident. Meanwhile, the shock-absorbing member 60 islocated on the outside surface of the first door to reduce operationnoise, to prevent the first door 21 a from colliding with the seconddoor 21 b when opening the second door 21 b, and to reduce operationimpact. As such, a front area of the opening 11 is opened by opening thesecond door 21 b only, and thus cool air does not leak excessively, andspatial efficiency is improved by decreasing an operating radius of thedoor unit 20.

If the first door 21 a is pivotally rotated upward while the second door21 b is open, the entire opening 11 of the storage compartment 13 isopen. Thus, the operating radius of the door unit 20 decreases, therebyimproving spatial efficiency.

As described above, the refrigerator 1 according to the presentinvention includes the door unit 20 which has a first door 21 apivotally rotatably attached to the cabinet 10 to open and close onearea of the opening 11, and a second door 21 b pivotally rotatablycombined with the first door 21 a to open and close the remaining areaof the opening 11. Accordingly, only the second door 21 b may be rotatedto open the front area of the opening 11 for storage items to be put inor taken out, thereby reducing cool air leakage when cool air escapesupon putting in or taking out the items. Also, the operating radius ofthe door unit 20 decreases as compared with the operating radius of adoor unit in a conventional refrigerator, and thus the opening 11 may beentirely open when the refrigerator 1 is disposed in a low-ceilingspace.

Further, the door unit 20 includes the cool air blocking member 30disposed across a planar surface of the first door 21 a and the seconddoor 21 b to prevent cool air from leaking from a gap between the firstdoor 21 a and the second door 21 b while the door unit 20 is in closedstate, thereby efficiently blocking leakage of cool air from theboundary area between the first door 21 a and the second door 21 b.

As described above, the present invention provides a refrigerator whichprevents cool air from leaking from a storage compartment when a doorunit closes an opening of the storage compartment.

Also the present invention may be described as a refrigeratorcomprising: a cabinet which comprises at least one storage compartmentformed with an opening at one side thereof; and a reconfigurable foldingdoor unit rotatably attached to the cabinet, having a first foldingportion and a second folding portion, wherein each folding positionopens and closes a section of the opening, and a cool air blockingmember which is disposed across a planar surface of one of the firstfolding portion of the reconfigurable folding door unit and the secondfolding portion of the reconfigurable folding door unit and a planarsurface of the other of the first folding portion and the second foldingportion and prevents cool air from leaking from a gap between the firstfolding portion and the second folding portion while the reconfigurablefolding door unit is closed.

In addition, the present invention may be described as a refrigeratorcomprising: a cabinet which comprises at least one storage compartmentformed with an opening at one side thereof; and a folding door unitrotatably attached to the cabinet to foldably open and close the openingin a portion-wise manner; and a cool air blocking member which isdisposed across a horizontal surface of a first portion of the foldingdoor unit and prevents cool air from leaking from a gap between thefirst portion of the folding door unit and a second portion of thefolding door while the folding door unit is closed.

Although a few exemplary embodiments of the present invention have beenshown and described, It will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat changes may be made in these exemplary embodiments withoutdeparting from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope ofwhich is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

1. A refrigerator comprising: a cabinet which comprises at least onestorage compartment formed with an opening at one side thereof; and adoor unit which opens and closes the opening, the door unit comprising:a first door which is rotatably attached to the cabinet and opens andcloses a partial area of the opening, a second door which is rotatablyattached to the first door and opens and closes the remaining area ofthe opening, and a cool air blocking member which is disposed across aplanar surface of one of the first door and the second door and a planarsurface of the other of the first door and the second door and preventscool air from leaking from a gap between the first door and the seconddoor while the door unit is closed.
 2. The refrigerator according toclaim 1, further comprising: a first hinge which attaches the first doorto the cabinet to allow the first door to be rotatable outward withrespect to the cabinet; and a second hinge which attaches the seconddoor to the first door to allow the second door to be rotatable outwardwith respect to the first door.
 3. The refrigerator according to claim2, further comprising: a first gasket which is located along an edge ofan inside planar surface of the first door; and a second gasket which islocated along an edge of an inside planar surface of the second door. 4.The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the cool air blockingmember has a length corresponding to the opening along a lengthwisedirection of the second hinge and is attached to the inside planarsurface of one of the first door and the second door.
 5. Therefrigerator according to claim 4, further comprising an extension partthat extends from opposite sides of one of the first gasket and thesecond gasket in a transverse direction of the lengthwise direction ofthe second hinge and prevents leakage of cool air between the firstgasket and the second gasket.
 6. The refrigerator according to claim 5,further comprising a heating part disposed between the first door andthe second door.
 7. The refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein theheating part comprises: a heater formed on at least one of surfaces ofthe first door and the second door, the surfaces facing each other; anda heater cover to cover the heater.
 8. The refrigerator according toclaim 2, wherein the second hinge comprises: a hinge shaft located inone of the first door and the second door; a hinge shaft accommodatingpart located on the other of the first door and the second door andaccommodating the hinge shaft; and a friction member which is disposedbetween the hinge shaft and the hinge shaft accommodating part, has ashape of a cylinder having a cutting part cut along a lengthwisedirection of the hinge shaft, and provides frictional resistance torotation of the hinge shaft.
 9. The refrigerator according to claim 8,wherein the friction member has elasticity in a direction of a radiusthereof.
 10. The refrigerator according to claim 9, further comprising astopper to prevent the friction member from being rotated by rotation ofthe hinge shaft.
 11. The refrigerator according to claim 10, wherein thestopper comprises: a protrusion formed in one of the friction member andthe hinge shaft accommodating part; and a protrusion accommodating partformed in the other of the friction member and the hinge shaftaccommodating part and accommodating the protrusion.
 12. Therefrigerator according to claim 2, further comprising a shock-absorbingmember disposed between the first door and the second door to reduceimpact of the second door on the first door while the second door isopen.
 13. The refrigerator according to claim 2, further comprising: afirst opening and closing sensor which senses whether the first door isopen or closed; and a second opening and closing sensor which senseswhether the second door is open or closed.
 14. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 13, wherein the first opening and closing sensorcomprises: a first magnet disposed in one of the cabinet and the firstdoor; and a first magnetic sensor disposed in the other of the cabinetand the first door to detect a magnetic field generated by the firstmagnet.
 15. The refrigerator according to claim 13, wherein the secondopening and closing sensor comprises: a second magnet disposed in one ofthe first door and the second door or one of the first door and the coolair blocking member; and a second magnetic sensor disposed in the otherof the first door and the second door or the first door and the cool airblocking member to detect magnetic field generated by the second magnet.16. The refrigerator according to claim 13, further comprising: acooling apparatus which generates cool air and distributes the cool airto the storage compartment; and a controller which controls operation ofthe cooling apparatus on a basis of information sensed by the firstopening and closing sensor and the second opening and closing sensor.17. The refrigerator according to claim 1, further comprising a firsthinge which attaches the first door to the cabinet to allow the firstdoor to be rotatable outward with respect to the cabinet; and a secondhinge which attaches the second door to the first door to allow thesecond door to be rotatable inward with respect to the first door. 18.The refrigerator according to claim 17, wherein the cool air blockingmember is attached to an outside planar surface of one of the first doorand the second door.
 19. A refrigerator comprising: a cabinet whichcomprises at least one storage compartment formed with an opening at oneside thereof; and a reconfigurable folding door unit rotatably attachedto the cabinet, having a first folding portion and a second foldingportion, wherein each folding position opens and closes a section of theopening, and a cool air blocking member which is disposed across aplanar surface of one of the first folding portion of the reconfigurablefolding door unit and the second folding portion of the reconfigurablefolding door unit and a planar surface of the other of the first foldingportion and the second folding portion and prevents cool air fromleaking from a gap between the first folding portion and the secondfolding portion while the reconfigurable folding door unit is closed.20. A refrigerator comprising: a cabinet which comprises at least onestorage compartment formed with an opening at one side thereof; and afolding door unit rotatably attached to the cabinet to foldably open andclose the opening in a portion-wise manner; and a cool air blockingmember which is disposed across a horizontal surface of a first portionof the folding door unit and prevents cool air from leaking from a gapbetween the first portion of the folding door unit and a second portionof the folding door while the folding door unit is closed.